One Shots: Blue Delphen
Characters * Mechanoid Group ** Axion/The Girl: A red haired girl in a red coat and dark clothes. She is the human form of the great force that gives life to the Mechanoid's homeworld. She is plagued with mind of the Empress of the Dark Empire within her. ** Gold Lio: A mechanoid that transforms into a golden lion. He is courageous and seeks to protect the girl, even from his allies. He has micro thrusters on his body and can fire plasma from his lion head in robot mode. He is the only one who initially trusts the girl. ** Red Taurus: A temperamental mechanoid that transforms into a red bull. He wields lightning and super strength. ** Grey Lupus: An distrustful mechanoid that turns into a grey wolf, he is skilled in stealth and tracking. He fights via throwing needles and trickery. His ultimate attack is a sonic blast from his wolf head in robot mode. ** Black Malpha: The sensual yet creepy Malpha transforms into a large black bird. She was initially distrustful of the girl, but is interested in her nature. Of all the bots she alone is noted for having 'arcane knowledge'. ** Blue Delphen: The youngest, Delphen transforms into a fish/dolphin like alt mode, and a merman like sub-mode. He is equipped for marine combat. * Humans ** General Tulling: A military commander who has taken note and interest in the mechanoid group. ** Amanda Reeves: An agent for an unknown agency who alerted Tulling to the Mechanoids and provides intelligence on their whereabouts. * The Dark Empire: A group of roving space pirates and mercenaries. They initially stole Axion from the Mechanoid homeworld, in a bid to give their leader immortality. It is they who send the numerous mechanical monsters after them. Their title was given to them by their enemies. ** The Empress: The evil ruler of the Dark Empire, whose face Axion now wears. She currently dwells in Axion's mind, trying to take her over, existing as a dark blight within her light. ** The Bishop: Second in command of the Dark Empire, he is responsible for deploying the mechanical monsters and weapons ** The Scion: The current ruler of the Dark Empire, her goal is to retrieve the mind of her predecessor and the power she stole from the mechanoids. * Others ** His Majesty/The Architect: The creator of the Mechanoids, through their world and Axion. He is also considered the de facto ruler of all known space and possibly beyond. He is considered all-powerful and associated with light and fire, but he only moves to punish species that have broken 'cosmic laws'. Appears * Dark Empire Drones * Pending Long Ago, In Space "The Morpheons...?" asked the Empress. She sat on a mobile chair, in hues of red and black with robotic legs of movement. Her left arm had a clamp upon it, and upon that was a screen monitoring heartbeat and other statistics of her body and tubes that connected to the large back pack on the back back of the chair. Before her were more of her people, wearing mostly red, robes. One of them wore a black visor, a bald male with a red cap, and skull shaped buttons on the side his shoulders under the pointed shoulder guards that rose up. "Yes, you Highness." he replied. "They are mechanoids...how can they help me...?" "It is a long story, but I remember a tale from my youth about the strangeness of their mythology." "How can stories help me...?" "As my professor said 'there is always a bit of truth in legends'." "You test my patience..." "Alas, I must, for I know you will agree to this plan, when it is explained." "Then tell me the plan!" "Alas, I must explain it, or you will no doubt, disregard it..." "Then...get...to...it!" He bowed. "Unlike nearly every other mythology in the galaxy, the Morpheons do not claim to be the direct creations of their god." "I fail to see how that will ensure me eternal life!" "They claim that their god, instead is responsible for all other forms of life in the galaxy. They do not seem to have ever had a period where they were unaware of alien life. So I studied their mythology, it is documented on the Extra-Net. There is a theory that their 'god' is in fact the same entity, known as 'his majesty'." "Oh..." "Yes...it is said a...'computer' called Axion was put in charge of channeling the 'Architect's' power to create their world and fill it with life." "Life, you say...?" "Yes, exactly what our majesty needs. I have studied their world from afar, with our special spy probes. The energies that create the fuel they run on, the metal they are built with and the plasma cells which serves as their hearts and minds, are all generated from their sacred golden temple." "I fail to see how this helps me...?" "The Paladins, of galaxy 12, they hold a bond with their 'sacred machines' via an unspecified energy field. This 'power grid' between them has given otherwise normal humanoids, enhanced physical abilities. It is my believe this field is similar to the field generator that maintains the Morpheon species and biosphere, a field which has been calibrated to produce a specific form of silicoid life, but..." "Which could be retooled for humanoid life..." She said opening her tired eyes "I will be a goddess, a queen, not just of this empire, but of the stars themselves!" He bowed. "You have done well Vizier, prepare my army, soon we march!" Present, In the Mountains Lio jumped about in lion form, moving boulder to boulder with cat like grace as he searched for the others. Soon enough a grey wolf joined him, and a massive black bird swooped down and rested on his back. The sound of trees crashing, and sonic booms, with sparks in the distance was countered by Lio's roar, and responded to be the red bull charging up to their location. All that was left now, was the most important part of their group. The girl, Axion, sat against a boulder, panting, as sweat rolled off her face. She flapping her shirt, fanning herself with it, as she tried to cool down. Something was wrong with her, she knew it, perhaps she had always known, but now she was aware of it, as she was ware of her mind now. The fractured whole of it had been mended and with this renewed clarity she could sense the 'sickness' within her, and that realization had given it definition. Where once her broken mind was a maze keeping it trapped, now it was Axion who was the victim. "There you are...!" shouted Taurus as the group arrived. They arrived and stopped, realizing her eyeballs were turning black. "Taurus..." she said with a weak motherly smile "You really shouldn't shout over the radio. 'They' might hear you..." "Who...?" asked Melpha "The humans, the natives of this world, or even the Dark Empire. Their spy drones are about after all." "We need to leave..." said Lupus. Everyone noticed the helicopters in the distance. Lio picked her up, and was jumped. "You're cold...!" "No...'she' is just a parasite, not just to me..." "The Empress..." "Talk later, run now..." The group took of, Melpha stayed on Lio's back to put Axion on the right way and to make sure she didn't fall of. It also helped that flying made her easy to notice unless she used her powers, and she did not want to waste the energy. The Military Base Tullings leaned on a railing looking out at the large hole made when the target left. He was alone now, not even his guards or the scientist bothered him as he brooded in silence. "A penny for your thoughts...?" said a woman's voice, a familiar woman's voice. The general turned to see a red haired woman in a black business jacket, and skirt, and a grey shirt underneath. "You..." he mused out loud. "Yes, we decided it was time to meet in person." "We...?" "Don't worry about that, worry about the clearly alien force, running around on our world, as it see fit." "There is more than that...the other alien force, it sent an army, robots and...monsters, to attack a military base directly." "Yes, we seem to have found ourselves, smack dab in the middle of an alien feud...all over that girl..." "That 'thing' was hardly some little girl..." "Indeed, it seems like that is just the shape it takes while here, the same way its guardians take the forms of animals." "Meaning, what...?" "Nothing, really, though, if these two sides are fighting over it...well we now know the axle for this little war that has reached our shores. So...if we want to stop it..." Deep in the Woods "How is she...?" asked Lupus. Axion laid on Lio's stomach and as lied down in lion form. She was sweating, and moving about continuously. She was unconscious but she clearly could not sleep well. "She hasn't changed..." said Lio with a voice of concern "Before, just contact with her restored my energy, fueled me...now...?" "Now, what...?" "Now it feel like I'm getting weaker. My energy reserves are fine, but the metal where she touches..." "The Empress is within her." said Lupus "Infecting her like a cancer, probably trying to take over again." "When we healed her mind, the tangled web that held her was undone..." said Malpha who walked towards them in robot mode. She carried stones with symbols carved onto them, runes, runes that resembled circuit board markings. "The battle for her...'soul', cannot be fought on this physical level." "What do you suggest witch...?" asked Lupus. Malpha ignored the comment and shooed away Lio, leaving Axion on the ground. She placed the stones around her, taking care in how the runes pointed to each other as she made a complete circle with the girl in the middle. The runes began to glow, and Axion began to calm down and sleep softly. "Huh, you hocus pocus seems to have therapeutic uses..." "My 'hocus pocus', is Dark Science. Axion produces a bio-field, much like ours, but much stronger, these stones, the runes upon them are creating a sort of closed circuit, funneling that energy back into her. It will help make detecting her harder, and help strengthen her against the blight that rooted itself within her." "But it's not a cure..." said Lio "No. That would require...another to join us..." "Why...?" asked Lupus. "The process requires at least four of us" Malpha retorted. "Then we need to find Delphen..." said Taurus, walking out of the bushes in bull form. "Hmph, hard to imagine just moments ago, we all hated her, we only went to save her, to save our race..." "Well, now we know..." said Lio "What I believed, that she was another victim of that wretched Empress." Malpha sighed. "Then it's settled." "What is..."?" asked Lupus "I will go and find Delphen. Now help me find some rocks." Some moments later, they had found several more rocks, upon which Malpha carved more runes, via the black wind she conjured, weathering circles and lines between them. She made another circle around the circle and sat between the first and the second. "You lot..." she said "Make sure nothing interrupts me." With that, her wings opened and the black winds surrounded her and the circles, a black tornado that shot up into the air. "Well, scrap..." said Lupus "That's going to bring company. Elsewhere Malpha stood up, she was no longer in the forest, and the girl was gone. She stood up in a white void as light knitted itself into matter, structures, a background. She stood upon hues of green shaped into grass, above an layer of browns and greys. A dim blue, was the sky, surrounded by luminous puffs of silver, while a white gold shined in the far, far distance. When she walked, she knew there was definition, weight, mass, gravity. This world had been set up for her, basic physics included. She walked forward, moving through the valley to the field of flowers in the center. Each sea green, blue flower shined with a light different from everything around them. They had an aura, ribbons of energy in a next around each petal, and emerging out of the center, moving, waving. The girl sat among them, in a silver dress, with a wide, sea green collar that rested on her shoulder, and connected to a sea green jewel that rested in the center of her chest within a silver chest. Her hair was long now, very long and had the same flowers wrapped in, but lacking glow. On her arms were blue, long, fingerless gloves that rose up to her shoulders. In comparison to the flowers, in comparison to even everything else, Malpha and Axion seemed so dull, even though they were hardly black and white. The contrast was clear to her, but Malpha immediately sensed the difference when Axion turned and looked at her. Her eyes were a rich, deep shade of blue that she could get lost in. "Malpha, it's good to see you!" she replied "I take it the restoration of my strength is your doing...?" Malpha nodded, though she was a bit cold. "What's wrong...?" "I'm not a Sol worshipper. I frankly, do not care for his rules, and stipulations!" "I see, you're the rebellious sort." "I am sick and tired of being told what I am, what I'm supposed to do!" "Funny..." "What is...?" "In other universes, Sol's creations complain that he doesn't do enough, and you're complaining he has done too much. Damned if he does, damn if he doesn't..." "He's a god..." "It may be difficult to understand, but you're judging him by mortal standards..." "Those are the only standards..." "Not to him, not to things like him. So many beings want to be gods and don't understand what that means. They see the power, but not the demands." "What demands...?" "My point exactly." "Okay, how about this, his creations have been destroyed, forced to near extinction, where is he?!" "If I told you he doesn't exist, what would you be angry at...?" "That's not fair..." "Is it...? Sol is Order, he is fire...he is life. Life endures, it returns...it prevails. Even if you wiped out all life in the galaxy, given enough time it would appear again." "I don't care, I..." there was rumbling "I want to know where he is..." "You don't find him, he finds you..." "What does that mean...?" "Sol, is a being beyond our waking world, there little better a way for me to explain than that." "Sounds like an excuse..." "That's more you I'm afraid." "So I'm to wait until Sol feels so inclined to pay a visit." "Simply put, yes..." "Do you not know how mad that is, how can you just blindly do as you're told for so long?!?" "Considering you wouldn't exist if I didn't, I find it strange that you complain." "That's..." "And personally I think you're projecting your grievances." "I am not!" "The Empress doesn't care for order, the established order. That is because she doesn't rule it. You quarrel and bicker about your fate being controlled, yet fail to realize how little control we have over anything not ourselves, and both of you seem to not care about the consequences..." "I want my freedom...!" "So do tyrants, and despots, and they got by destroying the freedom of others." "I am nothing like her!" "Yet you're here wasting time, trying to get the answers you want, instead of what you need, while your friends, fight to protect you..." Malpha was silent. "You can see them...?" "I can sense them, all of them, all of 'you'." "Then why don't 'you' do something?!?" "There are consequences for breaking the rules witch. Ripples flowing across the surface, becoming to tsunamis if you're not careful, and even if you are. I am mother of you all, but I am not your ruler, your dictator, lawgiver, or even guardian. That is not my purpose. 'She' doesn't care about such things, she doesn't care about my purpose, or the proper order of things, and your race began to die out. Where else beyond my station would you have me go?" Malpha sighed. "There is no getting through to you..." "You speak as though I should be ashamed of my selflessness. I am not." "Is that a stab at me...?!?" "Maybe, maybe not, but it is the truth." Axion touched two flowed, with a different finger for each, which then glowed. She flicked her fingers at Malpha, and the lights flew into her head. "Now go. You're friends need you." "I am not...!" "Malpha...!" Axion shouted with a motherly tone. "Your friends, your kin need you." "You're just trying to get rid of me, I still have questions!" "Are questions more important than people...?" Axion raised a finger, and a holographic screen appeared showing the others fighting. "Maybe they are..." "You cannot be serious!" shouted a voice. Out of the white walked a blue mechanoid. His kibble spoke of an aquatic form, perhaps a dolphin. "Delphin...!" said Axion with a tone of excitement. Delphin bowed to her. "Why are you here...?" "You're not the only one who was interested in the deeper mysteries..." said Delphin "But it seems I'm the only one between us who was interested in enlightenment instead of self-aggrandizing." "Don't talk like you know me...!" shouted Malpha. "There's not much to say, actions speak louder than words, and you'd rather sit here and whine about all of your life's problem, instead of helping the people that need you. How are you any better than what you accuse Sol of being?" "He is a god!" "And this is about your choice! I'm far away, you're right there. Help them!" "Don't order me about, no one orders me about!" "And that's it...your need for ultimate control is what cost us the war Malpha." "Sol-" "Sol this, Sol that...then all is lost..." "Yeah, because Sol..." "Sol is not here, we are. You scream and shout about Sol not making us all powerful, but in the end, you're just selfish, witch." "Spoken like all those fools who don't know me..." "Malpha, people have being calling you a witch for kilo-cycles...yet you've given them little reason to not think they were right..." Malpha glared at him "Axion...send me to them." "Okay..." Axion replied. "What...?" Malpha exclaimed "You can't just show up, this world is...this isn't real!" "Malpha..." said Delphen as Axion turned the holographic image into a pool on the ground, surrounded by rocks. "If you weren't so self-centered, you would know the truth of how inaccurate that statement is." Delphen transformed into beast mode, an abnormally large dolphin, and leaped into the pool. The Real World "Drones..." said Taurus, seeing the black spheres in the distance "Lost of them." "Well..." said Lupus "At least Axion filled up our tanks before we re materialized." The spheres fell in mass, revealing large cylinder shaped machines with spider legs, guns and...strange, disturbing silver faces with cartoon eyes and smirks. "Architect in the pit below, what are these...?!?" asked Lio "Target!" shouted Taurus. He fired his lightning bolts and the other two followed his example. Lupus fired a sonic blast from his wolf head, and Lio spewed out streams of fire him his lion head. The drones were taken down, but they were not all wiped out. Many retaliated with missiles and lasers, which while able to damage the mechanoids, seemed incapable of piercing the barrier of black wind. Taurus rushed them, baring any blows, to grab the leg of the closest, largest walker done, using it as a bludgeoning instrument against the others. Lupus took to the trees, moving about as a grey shadow, and bringing done the aerial drones with his needles and sonic howls. Lion took out the stragglers with his fire balls and flame coated punches and kicks as he flew towards the enemy with his jets. Yet, even this was not enough, as the waves kept coming. Fortunately they had more. A blue light shined from the black tornado, a blue light that sped across the battle field, knocking away enemies with waves of blue energy. The light stopped and generated a field that looked like a pool of blue shining water. "No..." said Lio with both recognition and disbelief "It's never that easy..." A large blue dolphin jumped out of the pool, which disappeared after it. It came down and swung its tail, and hovered in place as the wave of energy it let loose knocked down many of the drones. "Delphin!" shouted Taurus, with genuine happiness for once. "Let's go...!" shouted Delphin. His body glowed and he spun around, sending out a pulse of white light that began to heal the mechanoids, before they charged into battle again. The Mental Realm Axion and Malpha watched the battle, as Delphin coated himself with a blue energy to protect himself, or to send out shocks of energy. He dove into the ground as swam through it as if it was water, using this power to also sink several drones into the ground, while the others blasted them. Something about his presence changed things, they could now move as a whole, complimenting each other's attacks instead of fighting on their own. "Well doesn't he feel, useful..." said Malpha with a sneer. "Oh please, you're just jealous because people like him..." said Axion. "He's a goody two-boots always spouting this and that about 'light'!" "You mean, not a misery-monger, like a certain someone..." "That's unfair..." "Indeed, you've learned to keep that to yourself." Malpha grumbled. "Are you going to give me answers or not?!?" "Answers to what? Why the world seems to be against you, is it?" "Yes...!" "Or are you against it?" "Don't you dare..." "Look at Delphin. Like you, he is learned in the art of 'Dark Science', science based on faith, on imagination, on the soul. Yet he is not called a 'witch', the others enjoy his presence, they are stronger now for it." "And you're going to tell me what, that's he better than me?" "He is..." Malpha growled. "Where you use the secret arts to attack, to lash out at the world, he uses it to heal the world, to build bridges of the soul, to connect with others. Your team would not have existed without him. You know this, instinctually." "Don't talk like 'you' know anything about me...!" "Angry child, I am Axion, I am what the humans would call your 'mother'." "I am familiar with such 'organic' terminology..." "We are also in the realm of Embers, the space of minds. When I see you, I see not just a person, but a book." "Get out of my head!" "Not exactly possible, considering our nature, and the nature of this place. Do you not understand where you are, truly? Did you only learn enough to just to get here and question me, to get your answers, to get what 'you' want..?" "And what is wrong with that...?" "That's 'her' way, child, she learned enough about me, about our people to get what she wanted, regardless of the consequences." "Don't you dare compare me to her!" "Why, because she did it before you could...?" Malpha roared. "Glitch!!!" she shouted. She was snapped back to her senses when she saw the look of shock and pain in Axion's face. She looked down to see that her wing, her blade had stabbed her. She stepped back, as blue light bled out of her. Axion looked up gasping one last time as the white void began to turn grey and beams of light shot up from her eyes and her wound. She fell to the ground, the pool disappeared and the Empress began to emerge out of Axion's shadow, hanging over her like a predator and smiling at deviously at Malpha, knowing who to thank. "No, I...this isn't what I wanted!" "But it is what you did..." said the Empress, her voice like tar. Before either could speak, they noticed the light above. It was a golden light, that stretch into a line of gold, a line that stretched open to reveal a gilded star surrounded by a sea of crimson flames. "The architect..." said Malpha, with a sense of dread. "Betrayer..." was all that was heard. The voice was like silent thunder. It was not booming, almost a whisper but the authority behind it was deafening. The golden line, the gilded sun, dropped down particles, a construct of golden energy in the shape of an eye that slammed down upon them, with Axion in the epicenter, with a force, a burst of energy that sent Malpha flying backwards. The Real World The battle continued. Lio spat his fireballs, Taurus shot his thunder, Lupus threw his needles, and Delphen swung his tail releasing waves of energy. Down the drones went, until something happened. The black winds of Malpha, the twister like barrier began to contort and wiggle, before exploding from a red and yellow light, as the winds were released flattening the area. The mechanoids found themselves knocked down, but the drones were taken off line, and whatever mechanism was summoning them halted. Malpha found herself thrown away from Axion's body and send skidding across the ground. When she came back online she found Lio above her, holding out his hand to help her up. "What happened...?" "That's what we were going to ask..." said Delphen. She looked back to see the others surrounding Axion while Delphen examined her. "I cannot access her mind." "Is she..." said Lupus fearful. "If she had been completed we would've seen it by now visibly. No this is something else. She has no symptoms of an invasive energy within her, no fever as her body attempts to burn it out, she just...asleep." "It was the Architect..." said Malpa getting up, without Lio's help. "He did that." "Why...?" "He didn't like the questions I was asking and threw me out..." "More likely you tried something you shouldn't have and caught his ire..." said Lupus, crossing his arms. Malpha just sneered at him. "Regardless..." said Delphen "It means she is safe for now..." "How so...?" asked Taurus. Delphen curled his fingers and a ball of blue energy appeared over his palm, like water working against gravity. He pointed it at Axion and the blue water became blue light, which resulted in a golden symbol of light appearing for a moment, as long as Delphen kept it up. It resembled an eye on her forehead, a golden eye, but the circle on the inside sported a three prong symbol with an arc above it and line pointing down to the base of the point. "The symbol of the Grand Architect!" said Taurus "More than a symbol, a seal. Though not one to last..." "Huh, can't the great 'architect' do a better job than that..." said Malpha earning the look from everyone. "I suspect it's a matter of not 'can't', but 'won't'..." said Delphen standing up and picking up Axion with him. "What do you mean...?" "Before they came, our society was heavily splintering. Some thought we should 'expand' into the stars, and take our 'manifest destiny'. Others believed we should be making peace with the denizens of the stars, making peace not wars. We very nearly came to blows..." "I don't get it..." said Taurus. "He's imply the architect abandoned us..." said Malpha "Because some of us didn't agree with his orders, so he just used the Moravi as pest control...ON US...!" "Enough..." said Lio "You have always been the voice of strife and distension Malpha. Even if the architect did do that, I have more reason to trust his judgement than yours." "Pompous little... "ENOUGH!" Lio roared "There is one more to find before we have any hope of saving our people. Do something useful for someone besides yourself and show the way." "Well...some grew some manifolds while I was gone." Category:SolZen321 Category:One Shots Category:Episodes Category:Completed